Question: $ B = \left[\begin{array}{rrr}1 & 3 & 1 \\ 2 & 2 & 4\end{array}\right]$ $ w = \left[\begin{array}{r}5 \\ -1 \\ 1\end{array}\right]$ What is $ B w$ ?
Explanation: Because $ B$ has dimensions $(2\times3)$ and $ w$ has dimensions $(3\times1)$ , the answer matrix will have dimensions $(2\times1)$ $ B w = \left[\begin{array}{rrr}{1} & {3} & {1} \\ {2} & {2} & {4}\end{array}\right] \left[\begin{array}{r}{5} \\ {-1} \\ {1}\end{array}\right] = \left[\begin{array}{r}? \\ ?\end{array}\right] $ To find the element at any row $i$ , column $j$ of the answer matrix, multiply the elements in row $i$ of the first matrix, $ B$ , with the corresponding elements in column $j$ of the second matrix, $ w$ , and add the products together. So, to find the element at row 1, column 1 of the answer matrix, multiply the first element in ${\text{row }1}$ of $ B$ with the first element in ${\text{column }1}$ of $ w$ , then multiply the second element in ${\text{row }1}$ of $ B$ with the second element in ${\text{column }1}$ of $ w$ , and so on. Add the products together. $ \left[\begin{array}{r}{1}\cdot{5}+{3}\cdot{-1}+{1}\cdot{1} \\ ?\end{array}\right] $ Likewise, to find the element at row 2, column 1 of the answer matrix, multiply the elements in ${\text{row }2}$ of $ B$ with the corresponding elements in ${\text{column }1}$ of $ w$ and add the products together. $ \left[\begin{array}{r}{1}\cdot{5}+{3}\cdot{-1}+{1}\cdot{1} \\ {2}\cdot{5}+{2}\cdot{-1}+{4}\cdot{1}\end{array}\right] $ Fill out the rest: $ \left[\begin{array}{r}{1}\cdot{5}+{3}\cdot{-1}+{1}\cdot{1} \\ {2}\cdot{5}+{2}\cdot{-1}+{4}\cdot{1}\end{array}\right] $ After simplifying, we end up with: $ \left[\begin{array}{r}3 \\ 12\end{array}\right] $